A new report suggests Repola was a counselor at a church camp when a deaf boy disappeared in 1958.
In August 1958, a deaf boy Bobby Bizup, 10, went missing from the catholic camp. A year later, his skeletal remains were found. The mysterious disappearance of Bizup created a hustle, and a crew of 500 people was organized to search for him.
Later in July 1959, the team discovered his skeletal remains, and a medical test suggested that he was sexually assaulted and then murdered. The reports coming now reveals that Repola was the one who seduced Bizup, and many other kids might have fallen victim to his horrendous acts.
Repola is one of the 43 priests implicated in clergy child sex abuse in Colorado’s history from 1950-2019.
The molester died in 1971 after suffering from a long-term illness. The Colorado Attorney General’s office released the report on Tuesday. The paper was a sequel to an earlier report published in 2019 that revealed 52 priests had debauched at least 212 children in the past 70 years of Colorado history.
Most of the children were 10-14 years when they fall victim to sexual abuse.
Jerry Repola was the counselor at Church Camp St.
Malo, Colorado, in 1958, and he was being trained to be a priest. In 1964 he was ordained in Walsenburg and was assigned to Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church, La Junta. In 1965 he was transferred to provide his services in Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church, Grand Junction, where he assaulted a teenager.
He was removed from parish ministry after the incident and was sent for professional counseling.
Before the death, Bizup was last seen fishing for trout at a place close to the camp.
After ten days of his disappearance, his death was classed as an accident due to exhaustion. In 1959, a year after Bizup’s death, his cousin discovered Bizup’s clothes, hearing aid battery, and few bones. The investigation was reopened, and Hewitt, the cousin, told 9news that the family believed that Bizup died in an unfortunate accident, but now it is clear that it was a murder.
In2019, the first investigation report was published, revealing abusers’ names and claiming that the church willfully hid suspects’ names.